Two men have been charged in a bribery scheme involving an ethanol business and an official in the state's environmental regulatory agency.

Federal indictments against David Lee Brady, 75, of Raleigh and James Albert Perry Jr., 62, of Wake Forest were unsealed Tuesday. The men were among a group who formed a company called Agri-Ethanol Products of Raleigh. The company planned to build a $220 million ethanol plant in Eastern North Carolina. That plant was never built.

A former state offficial, Boyce Allen Hudson, has already pleaded guilty in the case. Hudson, a former official with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, admitted that he agreed to try to ensure smooth environmental permitting for the company in exchange for a $196,000 consulting contract.

Brady and Perry appeared in federal court in handcuffs for an arraignment before U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle. Brady's bail was set at $50,000 and Perry's was set at $25,000. The men will not be held in jail while they await resolution of the cases.

The men are each charged with extortion, conspiracy and bribery. Brady also faces three counts of perjury and one count of making a false statement to federal agents. Perry is charged with two counts of perjury.

State officials dispute that Hudson had any direct influence over the permitting process.

Ricky Wright hosted a fundraiser two years ago for Beverly Perdue.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate's campaign confirmed Tuesday that Wright hosted the fundraiser at his Wake Forest home in early 2006. She attended the event, said spokesman David Kochman.

Wright was one of two people named in federal court last week as investors in Agri-Ethanol Products, a company that has tried to build a plant in Aurora. A former state official said he made a deal with Agri-Ethanol in which he would help with the environmental permitting process in exchange for $100,000 cash and a consulting contract worth almost $100,000, David Ingram reports.

Wright and the other investor, Barry Lee Green, have not been accused of wrongdoing. Still, Perdue's campaign said it returned contributions from the two men last week following the disclosures in court.

Kochman said the campaign does not have an exact amount raised by the 2006 event, and the campaign would not give the exact date. Kochman said the campaign intends to keep the money.

"There were quite a few people who worked on the event and hosted it," he said, "so there's no way of knowing who would have raised which money."

Boyce Allen Hudson, who worked for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, pleaded guilty to the charges in May and agreed to aid an ongoing federal investigation.

In addition to his prison and probation, Hudson was ordered by U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle to pay $35,000 in fines and $15,000 in restitution to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hudson, 67, admitted that in 2004 he offered to guarantee a permit for Agri-Ethanol Products of Raleigh in exchange for $100,000 in cash and a consulting contract worth as much as another $108,000.

State officials have disputed the level of influence Hudson would have had over permitting.

A top state official and a long-serving mayor weighed in four years ago on behalf of a proposed ethanol plant that has recently emerged at the center of a federal corruption investigation.

Records subpoenaed by federal investigators — and released to The News & Observer in response to a request under the state’s public records law — show that in September 2005, Norris Tolson, then the head of the state revenue department, and Tom Richter, the long-time mayor of Washington Park, called the head of the state environmental agency to urge speedy approval of permits for an ethanol plant in Beaufort County.

Both men said in interviews that they were unaware of Agri-Ethanol Products’ plans to bribe a different state official and that they were only asking the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources to give the permit fair consideration. Neither Tolson nor Richter were named on a subpoena delivered to the state environmental agency.

Boyce Allen Hudson, a former official with the state agency, pleaded guilty last week to extortion and money laundering charges arising from the case.

An e-mail message produced in response to the subpoena shows that Tolson and Richter got the attention of Bill Ross, secretary of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Ross sent an e-mail message to a subordinate, asking her to update Tolson and Richter about the project.

A federal prosecutor said during Hudson’s plea hearing last week that investigators got wind of Hudson’s actions when company officials began boasting to potential investors that they had political connections. Officials at the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources have said that Hudson had no influence on the permits, which they say were decided on the facts.

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A Raleigh company's bragging about its bribes to investors led to a guilty plea today.

Investors and officials with Agri-Ethanol needed lots of cash to build a $220 million plant, so they told investors that they had bribed a state environmental official who had helped them get a permit in 29 days, Ben Niolet and Titan Barksdale report.

One investor called federal investors who eventually had an undercover FBI agent pay the official, Boyce Allen Hudson. Hudson pleaded guilty to public corruption charges today.  

Key to raising more money was a guaranteed air quality permit from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, explained assistant U.S. Attorney John Bruce in court.

Company officials and investors had a lunch meeting with Hudson in 2004 at a Raleigh restaurant. Hudson had become a lobbyist for the state environment department. Hudson and the company's chief executive agreed that for $100,000 in cash and a 2-year consulting contract worth nearly an additional $100,000, Hudson would help.

State officials said last week that Hudson's efforts did not influence the permitting process.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle said he found it interesting that the company would brag about a bribe in a sales pitch.

"Is that the sort of thing you want to put in a prospectus?" Boyle asked.

Federal authorities who have charged a former state environmental official with public corruption subpoenaed a state agency in November 2007 for any records dealing with a company called Agri-Ethanol Products of Raleigh.

That subpoena, obtained today through a public records request, was related to a federal corruption charge against Boyce Allen Hudson, a former N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources official who is accused of trying to expedite permits for an ethanol company — not identified in court documents — in exchange for cash, Dan Kane and Ben Niolet report.

Court records show that Hudson will plead guilty to the charges next week in federal court. Efforts to reach Hudson and his attorney have been unsuccessful.

Officials with Agri-Ethanol Products could not be immediately reached for comment today.

The subpoena also sought information about the agency's dealings with a partnership that figured prominently in the Randy Parton Theatre.

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